Harlequins 8th Edition Codex: Leak Compilation

Time for another leak and rumor compilation, this time for Warhammer 40k 8th edition Harlequins codex rumors and leaks. As with the other compilations the Warhammer 40k 8th edition Harlequins codex will feature both Games Workshop community info and any other Internet leaks and rumors as they come!

Check back everyday as new leaks and rumors for Warhammer 40k 8th edition Harlequins Codex will be added, without notification.

Pre-orders May. 19th Release Date Oct.26th:

Harlequins Codex: $40

Datacards: $15

Updated Unit Information:

General Warlord Traits:

Specific Warlord Traits:

Stratagems:

Masque Forms:

Relics:

Warhammer Community Sneak Peaks

The Harlequins’ Stratagems offer a vast range of tactical options to your army. One of our favourites is Cegorach’s Jest – get across the table as fast as possible, trap a key enemy shooting unit, then punish them when they’re forced to Fall Back:

Defensively, there are a few options that’ll allow you to improve your invulnerable saves – Prismatic Blur shields you as you Advance, and works superbly on Starweavers, while Isha’s Weeping lets you transform casualties suffered in Overwatch from a liability into a significant benefit:

As well as bolstering your units, the Harlequins have a range of Stratagems that directly influence their characters – after all, no army depends quite as much on these supporting players as much as the Harlequins do. Shrieking Doom makes the shrieker cannon even deadlier, and is great for picking off enemy characters thanks to the Death Jester’s ability to ignore usual character-targeting rules:

Heroes’ Path, meanwhile, allows you to deploy your characters at will, and is great for making a last-minute objective grab, disengaging from combat, or closing in on a key position:

One Stratagem that’ll be particularly appealing to veteran Harlequins players is Great Harlequin – allowing you to represent these elusive and mysterious champions on the tabletop and providing some useful bonuses to nearby units:

Finally, like the rest of their Aeldari brethren, the Harlequins can set up in the webway, allowing you to deliver your short-ranged units to the heart of the foe:

Between a variety of special weapons, wargear and some pretty scary offensive characteristics, Harlequins characters are elusive, fast, and deadly. With 12 Warlord Traits to choose from – that’s 6 for any Masque and 6 Masque-specific traits – you’ll find customising your favourites to be a lot of fun, too. These traits vary from direct boosts to your Warlord’s killing power, to shared bonuses like Player of the Light:

Player of Twilight, meanwhile, allows you to recoup Command Points and take full advantage of your new Stratagems – combined with the Harlequins’ excellent Troops units and the ease with which you’ll be able to fill a Battalion or even a Brigade Detachment, you’ll find you have loads of Command Points to play with.

You’ll want to check out your Masque-specific Warlord Traits too – for example, Skystrider from the Masque of the Soaring Spite allows you to disembark after a transport has moved – if both the transport and the character Advance, you’ll be able to cross most of the tabletop in a single turn!

As you’d expect, the Harlequins posses a range of eldritch and enigmatic artefacts they use to great effect in battle, known collectively as the Enigmas of the Black Library. Like the rest of the army, these range from simple, effective and powerful options to more unusual choices that, in the right player’s hands, could be devastating. The Mirrorstave, for example, turns the Ballistic Skill of your foes against them:

They’re not all weapons, either – Faolchu’s Talon makes the transport your chosen character is mounted in even faster – and less likely to kill them in an inadvertent explosion….

Our favourite here at Warhammer Community is Crescendo, a deadly shuriken pistol that, with some good rolls, has the potential to blitz anyone the user finds themselves in close combat with…

Codex: Harlequins features three new psychic powers (for a total of six) designed to broaden your range of tactical options even further and baffle your foes. Veil of Tears, for instance, lets you shield a key unit from harm:

Meanwhile, Webway Dance provides the usually-fragile Harlequins with a way of ignoring wounds – combined with your high invulnerable saves, your troops will be very difficult to displace indeed.

With new psychic powers to play with, we thought it’d be a great time to improve the Shadowseer – now, yours will know two powers of your choice rather than one, meaning with only a couple, you’ll have access to the vast majority of your psychic discipline.

Nobody goes to war quite like the Harlequins, a faction so mysterious that they make their cousins in the Drukhari look like forthright, honest chaps. In the new Harlequins codex, this is reflected by a choice of six Masque Forms that provide some powerful – and unusual – bonuses to your Harlequins army.

True to form, the Masque Forms are among the most distinct and unique faction rules we’ve seen in the game so far, each opening up a host of new tactical possibilities when it comes to customizing your army and confounding your foes.

Today, we’re revealing ALL of those Masque forms to help you decide which you’ll use when the codex comes out – and perhaps, to tempt you to service of the Laughing God…

The Midnight Sorrow are warrior acrobats, using their immense physical dexterity to confound their foes at close quarters. On the tabletop, this is represented by The Art of Death, a Masque Form that makes you nightmarishly difficult to pin down once you hit the enemy lines.

Consolidating up to 6? means that, when you blitz through an enemy unit, you’ll likely be able to chain into another one, proving very disruptive for any force that relies on shooting. Falling back an additional D6? also has a variety of benefits; remember, with your Flip Belt and Rising Crescendo abilities, you’ll be able to move over models as if they aren’t there, before charging. Defensively, you’ll be able to put a LOT of distance between anyone that tries to pin you down, while offensively, you can wreak havoc behind enemy lines, using your Fall Back moves to get to the heart of your enemy army.

The Veiled Path revel in trickery, misdirection and deception – traits represented on the tabletop by an appropriately sneaky Masque Form:

With a 4+ invulnerable save and a range of ways to mess with your opponent’s hit rolls, Harlequins can be surprisingly durable, with Riddle-smiths making you even harder to attack in close combat. If you’re looking to make your Harlequins last longer on the battlefield, this is the Masque Form for you.

If you’re looking for a simpler – but no less effective – Masque Form, the Frozen Stars allow you to make the most of your Harlequins’ close-combat prowess with Hysterical Fury:

Remember – Harlequins can Fall Back and charge, meaning you’ll be able to benefit from this several times during the game. By gearing up with powerful melee weapons like the Harlequin’s kiss (it’s a lot less nice than it sounds), you’ll be able to blitz through enemy units before they even have a chance to strike with a hefty 5(!) Attacks per Player on the charge for your Troupe units.

We’ve looked a lot at the Harlequins as a close-combat army, but these guys are no slouches in the Shooting phase, capable of wielding a variety of deadly Pistol weapons. The Masque of the Soaring Spite is the perfect pick for players looking for an airborne shooting army:

Troupes mounted in Starweavers will be very powerful with this Masque Form – as well as allowing you to fire your Pistols on the move, your shuriken cannons won’t suffer any reduction in accuracy for firing on the move.

The Harlequins of the Dreaming Shadow are among the darkest of their kin, imbued with a grim sense of purpose. On the tabletop, this translates into a Masque Form that punishes your foe for any losses they inflict:

With this Masque Form, you’ll be able to throw your Harlequins into dangerous foes, safe in the knowledge that your casualties could well swing the conflict in your favor. We’d recommend taking larger squads of Harlequins, kitting them out with as many deadly pistols as you can and getting them into range as soon as possible – any foe looking to take them out could be in for a nasty surprise.

The Silent Shroud are the most terrifying of the Harlequins, and allow you to make the most of your Morale phase with an interesting Masque Form:

In an army composed entirely of Harlequins, this will work superbly with your Death Jesters, whose shrieker cannon can reduce the Leadership of target units, but where it really comes into its own is in a mixed Aeldari army. By combining a Detachment of Hemlock Wraithfighters with some choice Drukhari units from the Dark Creed Haemonculus Coven, you’ll be able to drop enemy Leadership by as much as 9 – enough to transform every single casualty into a devastating rout.